Pokémon: Flames of Love
by caman213
Summary: Cameron and his Typhlosion Ember have retired from battling, but when a wish the two of them make unexpectedly transforms Cameron into a Typhlosion, the two set off together in search of a cure. As the two go along however, Cameron quickly finds himself falling in love with Ember, not knowing that she has developed similiar feelings for him. Rated T for language. Pokemon TF story.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

It was a cool summer day for Cameron and his team; they had just won the Hoenn league and were enjoying a nice 2-month break from battling at Cameron's house outside of Lilycove City as a reward for all their hard work. At the moment they were having a picnic on one of the many hills around the city overlooking the ocean. "Typh?" Cameron woke up from the nap he had been taking to see his Typhlosion, Ember, staring down at him. While Cameron tried to love all of his Pokémon equally, Ember was definitely his favorite for reasons far deeper than the fact that she had been his first Pokémon, but we'll get that later.

"What's up buddy?" Cameron grinned, Ember groaned and started rubbing her stomach, "Phlos…".

"Oh man, I totally forgot to cook lunch! Thanks for reminding me Ember!" Cameron exclaimed and ran off towards the house to grab a stove. Ember giggled as she watched her trainer rush away, leaving a trail of dust behind him. About a minute later, Cameron rushed back with the stove in hand, noticeably out of breath. He was about 6 feet tall and had average build for his age, which was 23. He had dark brown eyes that complemented his light brown hair that was for the most part hidden beneath the black fedora he always liked to wear.

"It's your lucky day Ember! I'm making your favorite snack today: Berry Kabobs!" Cameron then braced himself for the inevitable impact as Ember quickly bear-tackled him off the hill in a tight hug. "_Yayyyyy! Thank you so much!_" Ember squealed in glee, though all Cameron heard was "Ty,Typhlosion Ty!".

They rolled down the hill for a couple more seconds before finally coming to a stop still locked Ember's embrace. "Well I guess I had that one coming…" Cameron chuckled with a smile as he broke from the hug and stood up. Patting the dust off of his clothes, the trainer noticed that something was missing.

"Now where did my hat go?" Cameron asked himself with a scratch of his head and began looking around for it when he heard a soft giggle behind him. He turned around to find his hat resting right on his Typhlosion's head, having incredibly landed there during their tumble.

"How'd that get there girl?"Cameron smiled. Ember giggled again and pointed up at Cameron's head.

Cameron looked up and found Ember's favorite bright pink bow lying atop his own head. The pair stared at each other and quickly started rolling on the ground laughing at how silly they both looked. After about 2 minutes of laughing their heads off, the two finally calmed down and rubbed the tears out of their eyes. "It looks like my hat fits you pretty well too!" Cameron laughed, causing Ember to blush madly. The pair promptly swapped back their respective headwear with a short giggle.

Before Cameron put the fedora back on, he gave it a quick glance and noticed that it was starting to fade and had already turned gray in a few places. "Man, I've had this hat for a long time…" Cameron thought aloud. The trainer then turned to face his Typloshion, and with a smile added, "Since the day we first met, remember?". Ember would never forget that day; it had been a cold, rainy night many years ago….

*Flashback*

_She had been just a tiny little Cindaquill then, huddling in some old cardboard boxes for warmth, too afraid to activate her flame for fear of alerting one of the many dark-type Pokémon that patrolled the back alleys that she lived in to her presence._

_Suddenly, she heard a gruff, angry voice nearby snarling " I smell you little runt!"._

_The Cindaquill squealed and scrambled deeper into the pile of cardboard. "Oh you're going to have to find something a lot thicker than that if you want to save yourself from ME…." the voice snarled, slashing through the flimsy cardboard with ease, revealing itself to the terrified Pokémon. She saw that it was a Mightyena, with blood-red eyes and seemingly giant teeth._

_"There you are runt!" the wolf laughed, slowly opening its maw for a killing bite. The Cindaquill was in a frenzy, desperately trying to launch a fire attack, but her parents had died shortly after she had been born and thus had never been taught to use her inner flame to battle._

_"I wonder what you'll taste like…." the Mightyena pondered aloud with a twisted grin before rushing down for the kill._

_"I guess this is it." the Cindaquill whispered, clenching her eyes shut in anticipation for the final blow._

_But the blow never came; instead another voice rang out, this one much younger and kinder than the Mightyena's. "Hey! Leave that Cindaquill alone!" the voice yelled, and a barrage of rocks and old cans began pelting the wolf pokémon's head. "Argh! I should have just killed the little brat right away instead of toying with it first!" the Mightyena growled as it took off down the alley with its tail between its legs._

_"Are you okay little fella?" the voice asked._

_The Cindaquill opened her eyes to find a small ten-year-old boy standing over her, a look of concern on his face. The boy had messy brown hair that looked as if it hadn't been washed in quite some time, with the rest of his body looking about the same, his dark brown eyes being the only part of him that looked unsoiled. The rags the boy wore immediately identifying him to the world as a street rat, one of the many that roamed Lilycove's poorer districts._

_Still shocked to be alive, the pokémon gave a small nod._

_" I was digging in the dumpster around the block when I heard the growls and sequels and ran over here. I'm glad I got here in time!" the boy explained. Looking at the remains of the cardboard the little pokémon had been hiding in, the boy asked "You were hiding in that trash? But where's your parents?". The Cindaquill quickly started to cry. "Oh, I'm sorry little fella, if it's any consolation, I don't have any parents either." the boy said._

_The Cindaquill stopped crying and looked up at the boy with teary eyes, "Cynd?". "Yeah" the boy responded, "my parents died when I was 2 and I've been living on my own ever since"._

_"He's just like me…" she thought in awe, and with the knowledge that she wasn't the only one in her situation started nuzzling the boy's chest. The boy responded by picking her up and petting her on the head, instantly filling her with a soothing sensation._

_"My name's Cameron by the way." the boy said softly. The foreign sensation of being petted for the first time combined with the lingering effects her recent escape from death caused her to accidently launch an ember attack on the small pile of boxes that had been her shelter, setting it ablaze. "Whoa!" Cameron exclaimed, "I didn't know you could do that!". Looking back down at the Cindaquill in his arms, he noticed the bright pink bow the pokémon was wearing. "So you're a girl?" Cameron asked. The Cindaquill meekly nodded yes as she looked up at the bow. The sight immediately saddened her, as it was all she had left of her parents, having been given to her by them the day she had hatched. Seeing the sadness in the Cindaquill's eyes, Cameron started humming a song to her, and the sadness slowly faded away._

_"Heh, that bow does look pretty cute on you girl." Cameron observed, causing her to blush. Staring down at her, Cameron remembered something else he still didn't know about the pokémon in his arms._

_"By the way, do you have a name?" The Cindaquill shook her head, her parents hadn't decided on what to name her before they died. "Hmmmm" Cameron wondered, staring at the smoldering pile of boxes._

_Then it hit him. "I know! I'll call you Ember! Do you like that name?" The Cindaquill happily nodded._

_"Alright!" Cameron exclaimed. Just then, there was a clap of thunder, and the rain began to get heavier. Cameron looked down and noticed that Ember was starting to shiver from the cold._

_"I better find you something to protect you from the rain…" he said._

_Cameron then put Ember down and started scavenging through the nearest dumpster for something to shelter Ember in, but everything he found was too small to protect her completely. He was about to give up when he noticed a black fedora lying in the corner of the dumpster._

_"Man, this thing looks brand-new! Why would anyone want to throw this away?" Cameron thought as he continued to examine it. He shrugged and put the hat over Ember, it was a bit small, but it protected her for the most part._

_Cameron looked down at the little Cyndaquill in his arms and smiled "I just know we're going to be the best of friends Ember!", to which she replied with a happy "Cynd!"._

_The two walked off into the night, cold, but both overjoyed with the fact that they would never have to be alone again._

*End Flashback*

"It's been 13 years now hasn't it?" Cameron whispered. Ember simply nodded, herself also lost in thought. "Think of how far we've come since then…heh, a day doesn't go by when I don't wonder how the heck we ever got this far. I've become a Pokémon Master, you and the rest of the team are in the Pokémon Hall of Fame….Ember?" Cameron asked with tears now forming in his eyes, "Do you ever think it was fate that brought us together that day?

"Typh" _Yes I do…_ Ember whispered as she gave her trainer a passionate hug as they both stared out at the ocean, tears of her own forming in her eyes.

After a few minutes the two reluctantly broke their tearful embrace. "Come on Ember" Cameron sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes, "We better head back, the others are probably looking for us." "Plosh…" Ember agreed.

The two walked back up the hill to their waiting friends, completely unaware what fate had in store for them next, and that their lives would soon change forever.


	2. Chapter 2: The wish

Hey guys, here's chapter 2 of the story! Because of school I don't have as much time to write as before so it will be at least another month until chapter 3 is ready.

Thanks to Species Unknown for agreeing to proofread for me!

Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

6 months later….

Cameron ran down the alley from his pursuers as fast as he could, trying hard to ignore his legs' pleas for rest. A quick look behind him confirmed that the mob of fan-girls and autograph-seekers that had been chasing him for the past half-hour was indeed catching up to him. Desperate to evade his quarry he quickly broke into a side street and vaulted into a nearby trashcan in a last-ditch attempt to escape. Cameron huddled in the can, praying the mob would pass and leave him alone, trying his best to keep perfectly still.

"_Come on you crazies, keep going; I'm not here._" Cameron pleaded in his head as he heard the footsteps get closer. Suddenly, they stopped right in front of him.

"Where'd he go?" one of the fan-girls asked the mob leader, an autograph collector.

"I don't know but he's got to be here somewhere! Search everything!" The mob needed little encouragement and Cameron soon heard the trashcans and dumpsters around him being opened and searched. "Not here" "Nope" "No dice" "Where the heck is he!?" the voices rang out, the last of which belonged to the mob leader, who was beginning to feel rather irritated that his subject had seemingly vanished. "It's not fair!" he groaned, already looking as if he was about to cry "All I need is Cameron's signature and Ember's pawprint to complete my collection! I have the signatures of all the other top trainers in the region and their star pokémon except for his, but every time I track him down he keeps escaping!". The leader fell to his knees and sobbed "I'm never going to finish my collection now…."

"Geesh, this guy needs to get a life…" Cameron whispered from inside the trash can.

One of the fan-girls walked up to the grieving autograph hound and made the deadly mistake of telling him, "Hey man there's no reason to cry over a stupid autograph collection!" Hearing those words the other autograph collectors in the crowd quickly took a couple steps back, already knowing what was about to happen.

"Stupid?" the mob leader whispered as he slowly rose to his feet, "Stupid?" "STUPID?!" The autograph collector's grief immediately turning into white-hot anger as he turned to face her. "HOW DARE YOU CALL MY COLLECTION STUPID! I'LL SHOW YOU STUPID YOU AIR-HEADED #!?%$ !" He screamed as he lunged at the unfortunate fan-girl, his friends luckily restraining him before he could reach her and make good on his promise.

Cameron was trying with everything he could to stop himself from laughing, though while he couldn't actually see what was happening, the voices he heard pretty much told the story by themselves. One of the members of the mob heard the stifled giggles behind her and went off to investigate, heading straight for the trashcan they seemed to be emanating from.

Suddenly, Cameron heard a pair of footsteps stop right outside his trashcan. "I wonder if someone's in here…" he heard the voice above wonder.

"_Shit!_" Cameron swore in his head as he quickly detached Ember's pokéball from his belt and clutched it in his hand, prepared to fight his way out of the frenzy that he knew was about to break out.

Suddenly, one of the voices cried out "Hey, there he is over there!"

The mob quickly stopped watching the brawl in front of them and ran off in the direction of an unfortunate trainer that bore a passing resemblance to Cameron. The mob leader's friends immediately released him from their grip and ran off to join the others in the pursuit. The leader, his rage quickly forgotten, ran off after them screaming "Hey, wait up for me guys!".

Cameron waited a few seconds before slowly crawling out of the trash can and dusting himself off. He turned to the direction that the mob had rushed off and saw the unlucky look-alike trainer awash in the crowd, his screams of "I'm not the one you're looking for!" being drowned out in the sea of autograph requests and bear-hugs from the fan-girls.

"Man, I hate to say it but I'm so glad that's not me right now…" Cameron chuckled as he looked down at the pokéball still clenched in his hand.

"It's okay to come out now Ember, they're gone." The red beam shot out of the pokéball, soon solidifying to reveal Ember, the typhlosion exhaling in relief that she and her trainer hadn't been consumed by the horde of adoring fans. _"Even if we had, my flamethrower attack would have made them think twice before messing with us!" _she thought confidently.

Cameron saw the grin that had broken out across his favorite pokémon's face and could easily guess what she was thinking. "Yes Ember, I'm pretty sure you could barbeque the whole lot of them, but they'd probably just come back at us again later."

The typhlosion still wasn't convinced, but she kept her peace, telling herself that he was probably right considering these crazies.

Cameron casually glanced down at his watch and immediately shot up, "We better hurry Ember, we have to meet Taks at the café in less than an hour! It's been almost a year since we've seen him so we don't want to be late!"

Brendan, or Taks as he liked to be called, was one of Cameron's oldest friends. The two had grown up in the same back-alleys in the poorer parts of Lilycove and had similarly built better lives for themselves with their pokémon. Brendan, however, had never gone as far in the Pokémon League as Cameron had and thus had the anonymity that his more successful friend craved right now, but we'll get to that later.

"_Heh_" Cameron thought "_back when I was living on the streets most people wouldn't even look me in the eye, now they're chasing me down the streets in droves and I can't get them to leave me alone…_" The thoughts of his early past brought that day on the hill 6 months ago to his mind.

"Man so much has changed in the last 6 months…" Cameron wondered idly as he and Ember slowly made their way to the café, expertly blending into the crowd in order to avoid another encounter with his fan club.

For starters, he and Ember were on their own now. In the past few months Cameron's urges to battle had continued to decrease and the urges to settle down had only grown more powerful. So four months ago on his 24th birthday, Cameron announced his retirement from the Pokémon League to his team. He had thanked them for all their hard work and tearfully reminded them that he would always consider them his family. The next day he went about the heart-wrenching task of releasing each one of them into the nearby Pokéreserve with the promise that they would all meet again someday. It had been hard for him to do but he had seen that most of his pokémon were getting the same urges as he was and he didn't want to keep them from fulfilling them by keeping them with him.

When he had gotten to Ember, however, the typhlosion had fervently refused to leave her best friend, staying by his side no matter what he did to try and convince her to go with the others. Cameron eventually gave up trying and the two continue to remain constant companions.

Unfortunately for Cameron his retirement had another painful consequence, as a famous Pokémon trainer retiring has the same effect as a well-known artist dying; everything associated with that trainer, including autographs, immediately skyrockets in value. And more importantly to the fan-girls, a retired trainer is often much more romantically available than an active one.

Thus the ravenous mobs of fans cease to give Ember and him any rest no matter where they go. Luckily none of the mobs happened to be the area at the time and the two reached the café without incident.

"Yo! Cameron!" the trainer heard from one of the small waiting tables. He quickly turned to face the voice and found that it belonged to his friend.

"Hey Taks, how've you been? We sure have a lot to catch up on!" he replied.

Taks stood to greet his friend and Cameron saw that little had changed physically about his friend; he still had the medium build, green eyes, and spiked blond hair he had always remembered him having, though it seemed he had gained a bit of a tan recently. After a quick bro-hug the two of them sat down in their seats while Ember laid down on a comfy mat right next to her trainer.

"What took you guys so long?" Taks immediately asked

"You know…stuff" Cameron nervously replied, not wanting Taks to know about his constantly reoccurring problem.

Taks instantly arched his eyebrows in a way that clearly showed that he wasn't buying it. "Oh? And does this 'stuff' have anything to do with that mob of fans that's currently tearing apart that trainer that just happens to look kinda like you?".

"You mean they're still going at that guy?!" Cameron exclaimed, taken by surprise at his fans' ferocity. He immediately cursed himself, however, when he realized he had just confirmed his friend's suspicions.

"Ha! So being Mr. high-and-mighty Pokémon Champion isn't as fun as you thought, eh?" Taks laughed.

Cameron just grumbled a quick "I guess" before picking up a menu in an attempt to ignore the smug grin that had broken out on Taks' face. The trainer ordered a Tauros burger for himself and some berry kabobs for Ember, while Taks just smiled at the waitress and said that he'd be fine with just a glass of water.

While they waited for their meal, Cameron realized that there was something else different about his friend that he hadn't noticed earlier.

"Wait Taks, where's your pokéballs? Don't you have your team with you?" he asked.

"Heh, I was wondering when you would finally notice." Taks grinned, "You're not the only trainer to hang up their pokéball belt recently Cameron."

"You mean-?"

"Yep" Taks replied, "2 months ago to be exact. Battling had just lost its luster for me so I decided that it was time to throw in the towel. Besides, now I have more time to spend with Eliza."

Eliza was Tak's girlfriend of 3 years. The two had been friends since they were 9 and when they both turned 20 Taks had finally mustered up the guts to ask her out. Much to his surprise she'd said yes and the pair had been together ever since. Cameron could see that the two were made for each other and judging from the way Taks talked about her the trainer knew that it was only a matter of time until Taks proposed to her.

Knowing better than to press into his friend's private life, Cameron quickly changed the subject after their food arrived.

"So what'd you do with your team?" he asked.

"I decided to release them," Taks replied, "it was sad to let them go but they've all settled down in the forest near our apartment, so I still see them from time to time…You?"

"I released them too, but I haven't seen any of them since."

"Sorry to hear that man," Taks said sympathetically "But hey, it looks like at least one of them has decided to stick around, isn't that right Ember?"

The Typhlosion blushed and hid her face in her food, casually thinking to herself that the kabobs at the café weren't nearly as good as the ones Cameron made for her.

"Heh, she hasn't changed a bit since you found her in that alley all those years ago, hasn't she?" he chuckled, "And don't worry Cameron, I'm sure your pokémon are fine."

"Yeah, hopefully they've all found mates of their own and are happy." Cameron replied, though a touch of bitterness bled through into his voice.

Taks had noticed that his friend hadn't been as happy and cheerful as usual recently and had a good idea why. The only reason he hadn't questioned Cameron about it was that he hadn't wanted to probe into his friends' personal life. Cameron's last comment, however, had given him an opening he had been looking for and he asked "Speaking of mates, Cameron, have you found anyone special yet?"

"Not yet" Cameron whispered, "Not yet…"

2 Months Ago…..

_Cameron and Christie had been dating for a couple of months now and throughout the course of their many dates the trainer had become infatuated with her. After a little bit of soul-searching, he had finally decided that he was ready to take the next step in their relationship and ask Christie to move in with him._

_For an occasion such as this he'd decided that he was going to surprise her instead of waiting for their next date the following day._

_He hovered outside Christie's apartment door with roses in hand and was about to knock when he heard her voice from the other side of the door._

_"Yeah darling he still hasn't asked me to move in with him yet but it's only a matter of time until he does."_

_"Only a couple of seconds in fact…" Cameron thought with a smile._

_Her next words, however, stopped his heart cold._

_"…Soon baby, soon. After I move in with him he'll eventually propose to me and then once we're married all of his money will become mine. Then I'll drop him like a hot potato just like we planned and the two of us will never have to work again!"_

_Christie then unsuspectingly drove the knife deeper into Cameron's heart by adding, "Heh, the idiot still actually thinks that I love him! But you know you're the only one I love baby…"_

_Cameron never heard the rest of her conversation; the roses slowly fell from his hands and hit the floor with a soft thud as he then started walking lamely back to his house in shock, his face displaying no emotion but that of pure unadulterated heartbreak._

_Upon entering his home the shock subsided and the trainer quickly broke down into sobs as he flung himself into Ember's arms, the typhlosion desperately trying to consol her heartbroken trainer. _

*End Flashback*

The next few girls Cameron dated he also found to be only after either his fame or the substantial amount of money he had accumulated from winning battles, and the trainer quickly found himself unable to trust any girl he met, effectively killing any future relationships. Watching his friends and pokémon settling down and being happy only added to his grief.

Seeing the look of pain that had passed through Cameron's eyes when he had answered confirmed to Taks that his suspicions had indeed been correct. He wanted to help his friend but knew that any relationship he tried to match-make for Cameron would fall through almost immediately and only cause his friend more pain.

The lunch quietly ended a few minutes later and the two promised to meet up again sometime.

As he watched his friend and Ember walk away, he silently prayed that his friend would be able to find someone he could trust and spend the rest of his life with like he had.

Darkness had fallen by the time Cameron and Ember finally reached home and the two noticed that the stars seemed to light the night sky much brighter than usual tonight.

"Wow Ember, look at the stars…" Cameron breathed.

Ember silently agreed, also noticing that the stars seemed to be in far different places than they had the night before. She also couldn't shake the feeling that tonight was going to be special, though she didn't know the reason why.

"Want to watch the stars for a little bit Ember?" Cameron asked. To which Ember agreed with a happy "Typh!"

The two walked to one of the many hills that surrounded their house and laid supinely on their backs, staring up into the star-studded blackness.

"Hey, maybe we'll see a shooting star tonight!" _I sure could use the wish…_ Cameron thought as the two looked up to the night sky.

Ember already knew what she would wish for. Due to Cameron and her being the same age, she had also been struck with the urges to settle down and start a family. Cameron had noticed this and over the past couple of weeks had been "accidently" leaving her in areas where male typhlosion were known to be in abundance.

While Cameron's plan had worked in part, as Ember had encountered many male typhlosions her age, it also backfired on him because it had put Ember in a relationship situation similar to his own, as all the males she had met had either just wanted to get into her pants (or fur, the phrase don't translate well with pokémon) or just wanted to show her off to their friends to impress them.

_"Why is it that all the males just like me because they either want to impregnate me or just want to show me off because I'm pretty? Why can't I find one that loves me for who I truly am, no matter how I look on the outside, someone who I can give all of my heart forever?"_ She thought longingly. The typhlosion had no idea, however, that her trainer was having similar thoughts.

_"Why can't I find a girl that I can always trust and who doesn't care that I'm rich or famous but that just loves me for me and not just because of my fame?"_ he then added, _"And if I ever find that girl, I promise that I will give them all of my heart and love them forever, no matter what happens."_

Suddenly, a shooting star raced across the night sky. The two quickly closed their eyes and silently wished to the stars _"I wish that I could find my soulmate, no matter what it takes…"_ neither of them knowing that the other had wished for the same thing.

Their wish was granted.


	3. Chapter 3: Change

**Hey guys, as promised, here's chapter 3 of the story!**

**Sorry it took so long, school and writers block make a bad mix.**

**As for the next chapter, I'm afraid it's going to take a bit longer than this one did because I'm currently working on college applications and schoolwork and those are what I really need to focus on right now.**

**As always, please tell me what you think by reviewing the story, it really helps me out to get feedback from the readers.**

**Thanks again to Species Unknown for proofreading for me!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Contrary to what the storybooks had led us to expect, the fulfillment of the wish was not instantaneous. Maybe Jirachi was back-logged with wishes at the time, maybe the stars weren't perfectly aligned, but for whatever reason the transformation the pair had unknowingly wished for was going to be late in arriving.

Meanwhile, the pokémon and trainer quickly looked around to see if their wish had come true, and to their collective disappointment, saw that it hadn't (or so they thought…). Still trying to hold on hope, the two waited a minute or two before finally conceding defeat.

"_Why didn't it work!?_" the two cried in their heads.

"_Was there something else I was supposed to do?"_ Cameron continued, his sadness beginning to mix with anger. _"Argh! Why does fate hate me so much!?"_

Beside him, Ember was dealing with her own frustration "_Nothing happened!"_ She internally yelled _"There was no magic 'Poof!', no nice male suddenly appearing from the other side of the hill, it just got brighter a little from the star and everything went back to normal. Oh why does everyone else get to be happy but me!?"_ She raged.

Cameron, his own anger starting to become visible on his face, noticed that Ember also looked a bit upset and idly wondered what it was she had wished for. Not wanting for her to be upset as well, he tried to think of something to cheer the both of them up.

As he watched the Volbeats and Illumises light up the air like so many tiny lanterns, an idea struck him.

"Hey Ember, want to hike over to Starlight Lake?" the typhlosion mumbled a quick "Typh…", willing to do anything to get her mind off her crushing disappointment.

The two quietly walked down a faint side-trail to the large outcrop of trees that bordered the lake, both of them still silently analyzing the event that had happened a few minutes before and rattling their brains on what it was they had done wrong.

Those thoughts quickly vanished, however, when they got to the lake. Starlight Lake surely lived up to its namesake, as the stars reflected off its crystal surface like millions of shining diamonds.

"Man, this place looks so much more beautiful at night than it does in the day…..We really missed out all those other times we went here didn't we?" Cameron breathed.

Ember was too awe-struck to respond _"The lake looks so breath-taking….and kind of romantic…"_, she quickly banished the later thought from her head, not wanting to remind herself of her most recent failure of finding any romance of her own.

Seeing his best friend's eyes get clouded in seemingly pained thought, the trainer inwardly sighed _"Man, she still looks hung up on whatever it was she wished for…"_.

Going for Plan B, Cameron decided to have a little fun with her while they were here. He ran up to Ember and quickly poked her in the forehead, _"Tag! You're it!"_ he yelled as he quickly ran away.

Ember, her stupor now broken, smiled as she quickly gave chase _"Oh Cameron, you always know how to cheer me up!"_ she happily thought.

After a few minutes of running, Cameron was sure he'd lost her for a while and decided to take a short rest-break. Taking a look of his surroundings, he found that he was near a grassy terrace on the lake's coast that for some reason only had one tree growing on it. The trainer walked over to the tree and laid down underneath it, intending on catching a short nap.

The second after closing his eyes, however, Cameron heard a rustling sound from the branches above him. When he slowly opened his eyes, he was shocked to find Ember's sapphire eyes staring back down at him.

"Ahhhhhh!" he screamed as Ember pounced, cheering "Phlos, Ty, Phlos!" meaning "I got you!".

The typhlosion tackled her trainer to the ground and quickly started play-wrestling with him, but after a few minutes the two eventually got tired of it and slowly got up.

"Heh, how do you always find—"Cameron never finished his sentence as he slipped as he rose to his feet, tumbling off the edge of the terrace and falling the horrific distance of…..3 feet into the crystal water below.

Cameron quickly shot up out of the water "God, the waters freezing!" he yelled as he made his way to shore.

Seeing the worried look of concern on his friend's face when he finally made it back to the beach, he quickly assured her "Don't worry Ember, I'm fine, though a couple more seconds in that water and I would have turned into a frozen popsicle!".

Looking at her soaking-wet trainer, Ember couldn't contain herself and quickly broke out laughing and after a quick look at himself, Cameron swiftly joined in.

This is the moment where the wish made hours before finally kicked in, and in the mist of all their laughing, the two failed to notice the small hairs of cream-colored fur that had started growing on Cameron's arms.

The pair, still oblivious to Cameron's subtly changing form, got the rest of their laughs out of their systems and Cameron began the process of drying himself off and changing his clothes. Ember walked back into the forest to get some food for the two of them, their little game of hide-and-seek having worked up her appetite.

As Cameron started to take his wet clothes off he began to feel a strange itching sensation across his back. _"Man, I hope a bunch of mosquitoes didn't bite me…."_ but when he put his hand back to scratch it, he didn't feel the mild leathery texture of his skin, nor did he feel the circular welt of a bug bite, instead he felt the smooth, soft sensation of Pokémon fur.

"What the hell?" he whispered as he continued to feel his back "How'd this happen? Did some water pokémon…? No, that can't be, water pokémon usually don't have fur…Then what can it be?" he wondered as he took off the rest of his clothes, knowing Ember was too far away to see him and that there were no people in the immediate area.

The trainer backed up towards the water to see the reflection of his back and was shocked to see tufts of blue fur rapidly growing across it and up his neck. He brought the hand he had been scratching his back with up to his face and saw that it was undergoing its own change, the palms of his hands becoming thick pads as the fingers extended a bit, his fingernails growing into razor-sharp claws.

"What the…..Argh!" he groaned as the changes progressed to his body as it slowly started to extend and gain a bit more muscle.

_"Oh man, should I call for Ember? No- Argh! I don't….want to scare her….Oh god it's really starting to hurt…"_

The trainer was soon overcome with a wave of nausea as he felt his internal organs start to re-arrange and change shape, a feeling he NEVER wanted to experience again. Cameron was nowhere near done, however, and the worst was yet to come.

Next, he watched the legs that he had been able to run so fast on shrink a little bit, becoming more haunch-like as they too were covered in the cream-colored fur that had already overtaken the entire front side of his body.

Tears streamed out of Cameron's eyes and he winched as his feet reformed into cream 3-digit claws to match his new legs.

_"Oh god, the pain keeps getting worse…"_ he thought.

Suddenly, the trainer heard a loud "Crack!" from his chest and let out a blood-curdling scream at the pain that soon overwhelmed him.

Ember, too far away to hear the stifled moans and whimpers of her trainer, was currently picking berries out in the forest. _"Hmmm…those Pecha berries look really ripe and tasty right now… I know! I'll give them to Cameron and we can have berry kabobs tonight!"_ she squealed.

Suddenly, her trainer's scream echoed across the forest. Her favorite treat immediately pushed from her thoughts, Ember dropped the berries and dashed off towards the scream.

_"Cameron's in trouble! Oh god why did I just leave him there?"_

When she arrived back at the terrace, Ember was greeted with a sight that made her blood run cold, her trainer was currently writhing in agony as his ribcage cracked and expanded to contain his new larger and stronger heart and lungs.

"What? How…?" she breathed, still trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Another cry of pain from Cameron immediately ended those thoughts, and her first reaction was to rush to his side and try to help him through the enormous amounts of pain he was obviously going through.

"Come on Cameron! Don't give up on me! I know you can do it!" she yelled.

Cameron opened his previously clenched-shut eyes to see his best friend standing beside him, and while he couldn't hear what Ember was saying, the very fact that she was there seemed to ease his pain a little.

The pain was getting increasingly worse however, and soon became so excruciating that Cameron was starting to contemplate just giving up and dying.

_"It will be so easy…"_ he could hear a little voice inside his head tell him _"just let go and all the pain will be over forever…"_ It was an idea that was becoming steadily more appealing by the second, but as he watched Ember's eyes fill with tears at watching her trainer's pain and not being able to help him, Cameron immediately pushed those thoughts aside.

_"NO! If I give up, Ember will be left all alone in the world with nobody to turn to. That's already happened to her once, and I'm not going to let it happen again! Even if it feels like every cell in my body is dying in agony, even if my heart feels like it will explode from all the pain, I WILL NEVER ABANDON HER!"_ he roared inside his head as he pushed through the final changes, his resolve remaining strong as his neck grew thicker as his brown hair fell from his head, his ears growing larger and moving to the top of his head as his skull cracked and reformed into that of a typhlosion.

His jaws began to protrude outwards, his nose sinking into his upper jaw as they transformed into a rounded muzzle, his teeth growing sharp in his mouth, the changes eventually concluding as his eyes moved to the side of his head and his pupils became slitted, though his eyes retained their previous brown color.

Cameron's change was now complete but he still felt like it wasn't over yet, as he felt an enormous fiery pressure building up inside of him.

The pressure continued to increase in intensity until it eventually became too much.

"Hrauha…." _I can't hold it in! _"MUHRARAHAHAHHHHHH!" the new typhlosion roared as flames erupted from his back and shoulders, building to a blistering intensity.

The eruption also drained his last reserves of energy, and Cameron could only look at his best friend and whisper "Ember…." before collapsing face-first on the ground unconscious.

Still a bit shell-shocked from this sudden change of events, Ember slowly laid down next to her fainted trainer in a protective posture. _"Why did this happen?"_ she thought before eventually falling asleep.

* * *

**What's in store next for these two? Tune in next time to find out!**


End file.
